[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H4270-H4271]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




FINDING A COMPREHENSIVE AND COMPASSIONATE SOLUTION TO THE OPIOID CRISIS

  (Ms. TENNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize my bipartisan 
bill, the Expanding Oversight of Opioid Prescribing and Payment Act of 
2018, which passed unanimously in the House Ways and Means Committee 
last week.
  As a member of the bipartisan Heroin Task Force, I am committed to 
finding a comprehensive and compassionate solution to reverse the tide 
of the growing opioid addiction plaguing our communities and families.
  With 115 people dying each day--and 635 in my own district in 2016 
alone--from an opioid overdose, we must find ways to prevent this abuse 
from happening in the first place.
  My bipartisan bill requires the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission 
to evaluate and report on adverse incentives that lead to the 
overprescription of opioids and underutilization of nonopioid 
alternatives for postsurgery recovery and the treatment of chronic 
pain.
  This is commonsense legislation that will enable Congress to identify 
and eliminate perverse incentives that are fueling the opioid epidemic, 
the epidemic that is destroying our families and our communities.
  I have personally known individuals in the 22nd District whose lives 
were taken too early because of this scourge.
  This bipartisan bill is a step in the right direction to helping our 
families and communities combat this crisis that is tearing families 
apart.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my bipartisan cosponsors, Representative

[[Page H4271]]

Suzan DelBene and Representative  David McKinley, for joining me in 
this important legislation.

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